Microsoft's Campus Reboot into a Smart Campus

In this episode I'm speaking with Emmanuel Daniel, the Director of Digital Transformation for Smart Buildings & Campuses where he is responsible for building and delivering the Digital Transformation strategy for campuses across Microsoft. In this one hour 40 minute interview we cover a lot of ground! First we discuss what smart buildings are and are not, the technologies that support them, and examples across the industry. Then we dive into Microsoft's multi-year campus refresh project that will include 18 new buildings, 6.7 million square feet of renovated workspace, $150 million in transportation infrastructure improvements, public spaces, sports fields and green space.

Chapters

• 1:29 About Emmanual
• 7:53 What are smart buildings?
• 11:48 Smart buildings adapt to you not the other way around
• 12:42 Benefits of a smart building
• 19:16 What are the enabling technologies for smart buildings
• 21:12 What are the types of activities of a smart building
• 35:56 The role of consumer technologies in smart buildings
• 38:06 Digital Ecosystem Platform
• 40:54 The role of standards
• 45:13 How do the remote office and the primary office converge
• 49:51 Discussing the role BYO technologies
• 53:29 How's this campus refresh different than others in the High Tech world?
• 55:21 Microsoft Building #7?
• 59:21 Can we get some more tree houses?
• 1:01:34 Optimizing campus with more pedestrian walkways
• 1:09:31 Were there any aha's or surprises?
• 1:12:29 Importance of analog experiences in digital buildings
• 1:13:58 Is there 1 thing you are most excited about with the refresh?
• 1:17:44 How has COVID-19 impacted smart building projects?
• 1:26:08 What lessons can we learn from hospitality and robotics?
• 1:30:21 The importance of culture
• 1:33:48 Dealing with different views, ideologies, and preferences
• 1:37:39 Emmanuel's top 3 lessons learned